12 Questions with Jeff Gordon

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Jeff Gordon, the four-time NASCAR champion who could embark on his final run at a Sprint Cup Series title next week. That’s assuming he qualifies for the Chase at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night. He currently holds one of the remaining five slots. Gordon, one of the greatest drivers in history, will retire at the end of this season.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: I don’t think so. But I was just thinking, “What’s stopping me from doing it now?” I’m not so sure they could stop that now. I could see maybe doing it if there’s a lull or something in practice, but when I’m in the car, I’m so focused on the job at hand and needing to communicate with the team that I can’t see music doing me much good.

Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?

A: It was a race. I went to Indiana to race Quarter Midgets and they paid money to win. It was like $30 to win the race, which I did, and it was pretty cool.

Did the money go back into your car or to buy ice cream or what?

I think I was driving someone else’s car. But the way it worked with my parents was anything I won racing sprint cars, they’d split with me. I’d put it into a savings account and eventually built up enough to go buy my own truck. And then they took what they needed to to keep the car going. It taught me a little bit about saving money and a bank account and all those things, but it wasn’t a tremendous amount (of money) where I was doing anything silly or stupid.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: I remember watching a sprint car race one night in Putnamville, Indiana, and all the Kinsers were there. I remember going and getting all of the Kinsers’ autographs on a poster. That was pretty cool.

But if I thought of one moment, one driver that was a huge highlight for me, it was Rick Mears at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Was he just walking around and you went up to him?

It was like a Carburetion Day or something, so it was a little more relaxed environment than race day. I remember I was on the infield grandstands next to pit road, and he was walking down pit road. Surprisingly enough, there weren’t that many people screaming and yelling for all the drivers’ autographs. There were maybe two or three of us that I remember.

Rick sent somebody over, and I had a T-shirt I’d bought in the (IMS) museum. They took it over to him and he signed it and gave it back to me.

That was pre-Sharpie days, though. And I loved that shirt and loved that autograph, and I wore the shirt a lot. So every time we washed it, my mom had to trace back over the autograph until we got permanent markers. I think we lost that shirt somewhere along the way though.

A: Probably Bali. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Bali and I’ve never been, so one day I’d like to go.

Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?

A: I wouldn’t say addicted, but I’d say there are times where I’ve had (wife) Ingrid or the kids say, “Now is not the time to be on your phone.” Maybe at the dinner table or at home. Nobody has ever accused me of being addicted, and I try to manage it pretty well, but there are times I pick it up that I probably shouldn’t.

Q: If a genie promised you a championship this year in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: Yeah, absolutely — because I don’t have a favorite hobby. (Laughs) There’s not one thing I can think of that stands out that’s like, “Oh my God, if I don’t do this, I’m not going to get through life.” The only hobby I really have is playing poker, and I rarely get to do that as it is, so I think I could live without it. I’ll take the championship.

Q: What’s your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?

A: It depends on the situation. If I feel like I was completely at fault and made a really bad decision, and I have the opportunity to go over there and say I messed up, then I would. If I didn’t have the opportunity, I’d probably call or text them if I had their number. Otherwise, I’d let it kind of settle down a little bit and go see them in person the next week.

Gordon, second from right, poses with daughter Ella Sofia, crew chief Alan Gustafson and the rest of his crew after finishing second in qualifying for the 2013 Daytona 500 on Feb 17.
Kevin Liles, USA TODAY Sports

Gordon won two races in 2012, including the Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead on Nov 18. Gordon finished 10th in the Sprint Cup standings, his lowest finish since 2005.
Douglas Jones, USA TODAY Sports

Gordon talks to his daughter Ella Sophia before an April 10, 2010 race at Phoenix. Gordon failed to win a race for the third time since his rookie year in 1993 and finished ninth in the standings.
Tom Pennington, Getty Images for NASCAR

Gordon celebrates in victory lane with a pair of pistols after winning the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 5, 2009. It was Gordon's lone victory of the season. He finished third in the Sprint Cup standings.
Tony Gutierrez, AP

Gordon, shown here with a blown tire at the race at Michigan on Aug. 17, 2008, failed to win a Cup race for the first time since his rookie year in 1993. Gordon finished seventh in the standings.
Bob Brodbeck, AP

Gordon and girlfriend Ingrid Vandebosch arrive for the premiere of the Disney/Pixar animated film "Cars" at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 26, 2006. The pair would get married in a private ceremony later in the year.
Terry Renna, AP

Gordon, left, and a crew member spray each other with champagne in victory lane after Gordon won his fourth career Winston Cup Series championship on Nov. 18, 2001. Gordon won six races and had 18 top-5 finishes.
Greg Suvino, AP

Gordon was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on Feb. 18, 1997, two days after becoming the youngest Daytona 500 winner in history at 25 years, 6 months. Gordon's record was broken by Trevor Bayne in 2011.
Alan Singer, AP

Gordon celebrates after winning the Hanes 500 at Martinsville on Sept. 22, 1996. He finished the year second in the points standings. Gordon had 34 top-10 finishes and 21 top-fives in 31 races.
Steve Helber, AP

No, not necessarily. Most of the time what happens to me — and this is away from the racetrack — is people will look at me and go, “I know you! You’re somebody, but I don’t know who it is. Are you on TV? What is it?” And I’ll say, “Auto racing” and they’ll say, “Oh yeah, Jeff Gordon!” That’s typically what happens.

That’s nice of you to help them out.

If they are inquisitive, then yes.

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: I’d go right back to 1998. (Laughs) And then I’d hope it’s Groundhog Day. I’d take any race weekend from that year (when Gordon tied modern-era records with 13 wins and four in a row).

It would have been cool to race against (Cale) Yarborough or (Richard) Petty. You never know how great a driver or team was until you raced against them. The legends of our sport that I never got to race with in their prime, there’s certainly some interest there.

A: I think fly. Both wouldn’t be bad at times, but because I like a little bit of thrill and speed, the flying would be very cool.

I used to have dreams where I could fly. It was only for short periods of time, but that was pretty cool. I’ve heard in dream analyses that when you have things happen like that in your dreams, it’s usually because you’re extremely confident , like whatever is happening in your life is giving you a tremendous amount of confidence.

It must have been 1998 when I was having those dreams. (Laughs)

Q: I’ve been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Carl Edwards, and he wanted someone to explain to fans the difference between racing with lots of aerodynamic influence on the car and racing with none.

A: I definitely think it’s been evolving over time, how aerodynamics are affecting your car and the other cars. I'd look at myself as an example. I think a lot of people maybe have their own opinions as to why I haven’t been as successful in the last 10 years as I used to be, and I kind of find it comical that some people point out, “You’re not as aggressive as you used to be when you were younger.” In my opinion, it’s the exact opposite. It’s that the cars used to be so difficult to drive that you had to finesse it and you had to be really careful on how far you pushed the car. You had to find the edge but not go over it. So to me, not being super aggressive and having good car control are some of the things I feel like I did best throughout my career.

As the cars started gaining more and more downforce, you actually had to start being more and more aggressive. You didn’t have to pace yourself and you didn’t have to save the tires and the car and the engine, and you could just go all out. That’s where we’re at today: They drop the green and you push the car as hard as you can. The tires don’t wear out. Yeah, the speed falls off, but it’s not really from tire wear — at least at most places we go to.

I think that’s why I excel at Atlanta and Martinsville, because those tracks are still kind of like that. It’s not about how hard you can drive in the corner; it’s about not overdriving the corner.

So when I go back to lower downforce, that’s what I think of. You kind of focused on your own box and took care of your own car and equipment, and you really just let the track and the car come to you. Others either fell off or had failures or wrecked, and you found yourself in position of, “OK, now I can go win the race.”

You still had to be aggressive at certain points of the race, like restarts. And we had soft tires, so you could be aggressive for one or two laps but then you’d go back into the finesse mode as the pace fell off. You had to be a lot more patient with less downforce. The cars were not as affected by other air, but the grip was so much less, too. You didn’t really get right up behind somebody as much because you could find some different grooves to work. And if you did get right up behind somebody, you were getting them loose – it wasn't making you loose or tight.

If you look at the height of the decklids and the spoiler, it’s been an evolution over time. If you go to the NASCAR Hall of Fame or a museum, you can see the difference in the cars. It started with the decklid here and the spoiler here (demonstrates a low measurement with his hand) and then it was here and here (moves hand higher) and it just kept rising up and up and up.

Then you started seeing these wedges on the car – the nose is low, back is high, looks good, great performance, less drag, more downforce. And eventually that just started punching this bigger hole in the air.

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver? It’s Paul Menard.

A: How tough of a decision was it to pursue NASCAR when the Menards’ history seemed to be in open-wheel?

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: I love these interviews. I think they’re great, so I’d say a 10. I always enjoy them because there are some subjects I’m used to talking about and other subjects that are off the beaten path. I love that challenge.